The baggage racks of rail vehicle passenger spaces are constituted by supports, e.g. sheets of glass, held by brackets that are regularly spaced apart and fixed to the side walls of the vehicles. Flaps are generally disposed beneath the baggage racks. They are provided both for reasons of appearance and for mechanical reasons. They serve to support reading lights, switches, and sound-system loudspeakers, and to mask the brackets and the electrical components situated on the upper portions of the side faces (fluorescent tubes, converters, curtain roller mechanisms, electric cables, etc.).
Such a flap is generally constituted by an aluminum section member connected firstly to the face of the vehicle and secondly to the baggage rack support. One of the connections constitutes a hinge and the other a lock. When unlocked, the flap swings down so as to give access to the equipment situated beneath the baggage rack and normally hidden by the flap.
Until now, flaps have been strips of width that is relatively narrow compared with their length. For reasons of appearance, it is now desired that flaps should be wider so as to cover the entire underside of the baggage rack, unlike presently available devices. It is also desired that such flaps should be more curved so as to increase the volume available for passengers. This further increases the developed length of such a flap.
Wide flaps pose a certain number of problems. When they are unlocked to gain access to the hidden parts, they have insufficient clearance because the headrests of the seats prevent them from swinging down fully. Such insufficient clearance makes it difficult to gain access to the equipment housed beneath the baggage rack.
Another problem arises in fabricating the flaps which are normally implemented in the form of an aluminum section. The maximum width of an extrusion die is too limited for making wide flaps.
On installation, another problem arises, namely that of aligning the flaps properly. A flap may be more than 2 meters (m) long. It then becomes very difficult to ensure good continuity between flaps that are not only wide but also highly curved. In addition to this visible defect, there then also exists a clear gap from which light emitted by the fluorescent tubes can diffuse. Such poor alignment is unacceptable given the quality of appearance that is required.